This is for every student who has ever felt torn between passions, unsure how to choose just one path. So often, we think a career decision means closing doors, especially in STEM. But the truth is, STEM can open more doors than you ever imagined. In this reflection, our author shares how a foundation in technology became the starting point for a career filled with creativity, communication, collaboration, travel, leadership, and lifelong learning. Sometimes the best path for someone with many interests is not narrowing them down, but finding a field broad enough to let them all grow.
How do you choose a career when you’re a little bit good at a lot of things? When you can’t imagine doing just one thing for the rest of your life?
If you’re asking these questions, I hope my story can give you a helpful perspective.
These were the questions I faced as a college freshman trying to pick a major.
After a lot of deliberation, I took a leap of faith and chose a STEM path, majoring in computer science and math. I loved the clarity and satisfaction of solving a math problem or building software that worked. I was drawn to the adventure, too, with cool summer internships and the feeling that I was stepping into something dynamic just as Silicon Valley was hitting its stride.
Still, I worried: Was I locking myself into just one thing forever?
The answer turned out to be no—not in the way I feared. Yes, my career stayed rooted in technology. But technology itself kept changing, which meant I was always learning something new. Then my STEM education and early career became a springboard for exploring a range of interests. I found myself developing skills in public speaking, writing, art, education (both early childhood and adult learning), international collaboration, psychology, business, law, and more.
In tech careers, you are expected to move around, between roles within a company and between companies. If you thrive on variety, this works in your favor. Some of the roles I got to hold:
Educational game author, building on my love of education, art, music and making things in addition to some deep software engineering.
Corporate trainer, heavily using my love of public speaking, psychology and teamwork.
Technical and marketing writer, relying on all those English classes and even creative writing and a tiny bit of art.
Partnerships manager, bringing together engineering, organizing, and relationship-building across companies, and learning about contract negotiation and corporate law.
Marketing consultant, combining creativity and technical knowledge, while appreciating flexibility during early motherhood.
Product manager, ultimately my long-term home, blending technical insight, business strategy, communication, creativity, and collaboration.
General manager, using all of the above combined with leadership skills.
Beyond roles, STEM careers can be in a range of industries and environments. Over the course of my career, I worked in:
Tiny startups figuring out what to build and who would buy it.
Large companies like Apple and HP, building systems software.
Growing startups developing educational games, digital writing tablets, mobile hotspots, storage solutions, and even space radar systems for tracking satellites.
Not my experience, but fellow STEM grad friends worked in government, nonprofits, churches and venture capital as well.
My journey also took me beyond my immediate world. I collaborated with teams in Japan, across Europe, and throughout the United States, and traveled to many of those places, plus Costa Rica, in support of our work.
Times, technologies, and products will change, but what I learned still applies-STEM can be an especially good path for people with many interests.
Starting with a strong technical foundation, you can build all kinds of skills. Tech organizations need people who think analytically and people who think expansively. They need builders, storytellers, organizers, and collaborators.
